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<h1>Now you can say you can.</h1>

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<ol>
<li><a href="#part1">Expressing the ability to do something</a></li>
<li><a href="#part2">The Potential Form</a></li>
<li><a href="#part3">Potential forms do not have direct objects</a></li>
<li><a href="#part4">Are 「<span title="みえる - to be visible" class="popup">見える</span>」 and 「<span title="きこえる - to be audible" class="popup">聞こえる</span>」 exceptions?</a></li>
<li><a href="#part5">「<span title="ある - to exist (inanimate)" class="popup">ある</span>」, yet another exception</a></li>
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<h2 id="part1">Expressing the ability to do something</h2>
In Japanese, the ability to do a certain action is expressed by conjugating the verb rather than adding a word such as the words "can" or "able to" in the case of English. All verbs conjugated into the potential form become a ru-verb.

<h2 id="part2">The Potential Form</h2>
Once again, the conjugation rules can be split into three major groups: ru-verbs, u-verbs, and exception verbs. However, the potential form of the verb 「<span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span>」 (meaning "to do") is a special  exception because it becomes a completely different verb: 「<span title="できる - to be able to do" class="popup">できる</span>」 （<span title="できる - to be able to do" class="popup">出来る</span>）

<div class="sumbox">
<span class="summary">Rules for creating potential form</span>
<ol>
<li>ru-verbs - Replace the 「る」with 「られる」.
<br />（例）　<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見<em><strike>る</strike></em></span> → <span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見<em>られる</em></span></li>
<li>u-verbs - Change the last character from a / u / vowel sound to the equivalent / e / vowel sound and add 「る」.
<br /> （例）　<span title="あそぶ - to play" class="popup">遊<em><strike>ぶ</strike></em></span> → <span title="あそぶ - to play" class="popup">遊<em>べ</em></span> → <span title="あそぶ - to play" class="popup">遊べ<em>る</em></span></li>
<li>Exceptions - 「<span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span>」 becomes 「<span title="できる - to be able to do" class="popup">できる</span>」 and 「<span title="くる - to come" class="popup">くる</span>」 becomes 「<span title="くる - to come" class="popup">こられる</span>」.</li>
</ol>
※Remember that all potential verbs become ru-verbs.
</div>


<p />
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<td>
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<caption>Sample ru-verbs</caption>
<tr align="center"><th>Plain</th><th>Potential</th></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="たべる - to eat" class="popup">食べ<em>る</em></span></td><td><span title="たべる - to eat" class="popup">食べ<em>られる</em></span></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="きる - to wear" class="popup">着<em>る</em></span></td><td><span title="きる - to wear" class="popup">着<em>られる</em></span></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="しんじる - to believe" class="popup">信じ<em>る</em></span></td><td><span title="しんじる - to believe" class="popup">信じ<em>られる</em></span></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="ねる - to sleep" class="popup">寝<em>る</em></span></td><td><span title="ねる - to sleep" class="popup">寝<em>られる</em></span></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="おきる - to get up" class="popup">起き<em>る</em></span></td><td><span title="おきる - to get up" class="popup">起き<em>られる</em></span></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="でる - to come out" class="popup">出<em>る</em></span></td><td><span title="でる - to come out" class="popup">出<em>られる</em></span></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="かける - to hang" class="popup">掛け<em>る</em></span></td><td><span title="かける - to hang" class="popup">掛け<em>られる</em></span></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="しらべる - to investigate" class="popup">調べ<em>る</em></span></td><td><span title="しらべる - to investigate" class="popup">調べ<em>られる</em></span></td></tr>

</table>
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<td rowspan="2">
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</td>

<td>
<table border="1" cellpadding="5">
<caption>Sample u-verbs</caption>
<tr align="center"><th>Plain</th><th>Potential</th>
<th><span title="ろーまじ - roman characters" class="popup">ローマ字</span></th><th><span title="ろーまじ - roman characters" class="popup">ローマ字</span> (Pot.)</th></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="はなす - to speak" class="popup">話<em>す</em></span></td><td><span title="はなす - to speak" class="popup">話<em>せる</em></span></td>
<td>hanas<em>u</em></td><td>hanas<em>eru</em></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="かく - to write" class="popup">書<em>く</em></span></td><td><span title="かく - to write" class="popup">書<em>ける</em></span></td>
<td>kak<em>u</em></td><td>kak<em>eru</em></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="あそぶ - to play" class="popup">遊<em>ぶ</em></span></td><td><span title="あそぶ - to play" class="popup">遊<em>べる</em></span></td>
<td>asob<em>u</em></td><td>asob<em>eru</em></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="まつ - to wait" class="popup">待<em>つ</em></span></td><td><span title="まつ - to wait" class="popup">待<em>てる</em></span></td>
<td>mat<em>u</em></td><td>mat<em>eru</em></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="のむ - to drink" class="popup">飲<em>む</em></span></td><td><span title="のむ - to drink" class="popup">飲<em>める</em></span></td>
<td>nom<em>u</em></td><td>nom<em>eru</em></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="とる - to take" class="popup">取<em>る</em></span></td><td><span title="とる - to take" class="popup">取<em>れる</em></span></td>
<td>tor<em>u</em></td><td>tor<em>eru</em></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="しぬ - to die" class="popup">死<em>ぬ</em></span></td><td><span title="しぬ - to die" class="popup">死<em>ねる</em></span></td>
<td>shin<em>u</em></td><td>shin<em>eru</em></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="かう - to buy" class="popup">買<em>う</em></span></td><td><span title="かう - to buy" class="popup">買<em>える</em></span></td><td>ka<em>u</em></td>
<td>ka<em>eru</em></td></tr>

</table>
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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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<td valign="top">
<table border="1" cellpadding="5">
<caption>Exception Verbs</caption>
<tr align="center"><th>Plain</th><th>Potential</th></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="する - to do" class="popup">する</span></td><td><span title="できる - to be able to do" class="popup">できる</span></td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="くる - to come" class="popup">くる</span></td><td><span title="くる - to come" class="popup">こられる</span></td></tr>

</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>
It is also possible to just add 「れる」 instead of the full 「られる」 for ru-verbs.  For example, 「<span title="たべる - to eat" class="popup">食べる</span>」 becomes 「<span title="たべる - to eat" class="popup">食べれる</span>」 instead of
「<span title="たべる - to eat" class="popup">食べられる</span>」.  I suggest
learning the official 「られる」 conjugation first because laziness can be a hard habit to break and the shorter version, though common, is considered to be slang.
</p>

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>（１）　<span title="かんじ - kanji" class="popup">漢字</span>は<em><span title="かく - to write" class="popup">書けます</span>か</em>？
<br />- Can you write kanji?
</p>
<p>（２）　<span title="ざんねん - unfortunate" class="popup">残念</span>だが、<span title="こんしゅうまつ - this weekend" class="popup">今週末</span>は<em><span title="いく - to go" class="popup">行けない</span></em>。
<br />- It's unfortunate, but can't go this weekend.
</p>
<p>
（３）　<span title="もう - already" class="popup">もう</span><em><span title="しんじる - to believe" class="popup">信じられない</span></em>。
<br />- I can't believe it already.
</p>

<h2 id="part3">Potential forms do not have direct objects</h2>
The potential form indicates that something is possible but no actual action is actually taken.  While the potential form remains a verb, since it is
describing the state of something you must not use the direct object 「を」 as you have done with regular verbs.
For example the following sentences are incorrect.

<p>（誤）　<span title="ふじさん - Mt. Fuji" class="popup">富士山</span><em><strike>を</strike></em><span title="のぼる - to climb" class="popup">登れた</span>。
<br />（誤）　<span title="おもい - heavy" class="popup">重い</span><span title="にもつ - baggage" class="popup">荷物</span><em><strike>を</strike></em><span title="もつ - to hold" class="popup">持てます</span>。
</p>
<p>Here are the corrected versions:
<br />（正）　<span title="ふじさん - Mt. Fuji" class="popup">富士山</span><em>が</em><span title="のぼる - to climb" class="popup">登れた</span>。- Was able to climb Fuji-san.
<br />（正）　<span title="おもい - heavy" class="popup">重い</span><span title="にもつ - baggage" class="popup">荷物</span><em>が</em><span title="もつ - to hold" class="popup">持てます</span>。- Am able to hold heavy baggage.
<br />Of course, the 「は」 or 「も」 particle is also possible depending on what you want to say.
</p>

<h2 id="part4">Are 「<span title="みえる - to be visible" class="popup">見える</span>」 and 「<span title="きこえる - to be audible" class="popup">聞こえる</span>」 exceptions?</h2>
There are two verbs 「<span title="みえる - to be visible" class="popup">見える</span>」 and 「<span title="きこえる - to be audible" class="popup">聞こえる</span>」 that mean that something is visible and audible, respectively.  When you want to say that you can
see or hear something, you'll want to use these verbs.  If however, you wanted to say that you were given the opportunity to see or hear something,
you would use the regular potential form. However, in this case, it is more common to use the type of expression as seen in example （３）.

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>（１）　<span title="きょう - today" class="popup">今日</span>は<span title="はれる - to be sunny" class="popup">晴れて</span>、<span title="ふじさん - Mt. Fuji" class="popup">富士山</span>が<span title="みえる - to be visible" class="popup">見える</span>。
<br />- It cleared up today and Fuji-san is visible.
</p>
<p>
（２）　<span title="ともだち - friend" class="popup">友達</span>の<span title="おかげ - thanks to" class="popup">おかげ</span>で、<span title="えいが - movie" class="popup">映画</span>は<span title="ただ - free of charge, only" class="popup">ただ</span>で<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見られた</span>。
<br />- Thanks to [my] friend, [I] was able to watch the movie for free.
</p>
<p>
（３）　<span title="ともだち - friend" class="popup">友達</span>の<span title="おかげ - thanks to" class="popup">おかげ</span>で、<span title="えいが - movie" class="popup">映画</span>を<span title="ただ - free of charge, only" class="popup">ただ</span>で<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見る</span><span title="こと - event, matter" class="popup">こと</span>が<span title="できる - to be able to do" class="popup">できた</span>。
<br />- Thanks to [my] friend, [I] was able to watch the movie for free.
</p>

<p>
You can see that （３） uses the generic noun for an event to say literally, "The event of seeing movie was able to be done." which essentially
means the same thing as 「<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見られる</span>」.  As already explained in <a href="particles3.html#part4">Particles 3</a>,
you can also just use generic noun substitution to substitute for 「<span title="こと - event, matter" class="popup">こと</span>」.
</p>
<p>
（１）　<span title="ともだち - friend" class="popup">友達</span>の<span title="おかげ - thanks to" class="popup">おかげ</span>で、<span title="えいが - movie" class="popup">映画</span>を<span title="みる - to see" class="popup">見る</span><em>の</em>が<span title="できる - to be able to do" class="popup">できた</span>。
</p>

<p>
Here's some more examples using 「<span title="きく - to hear, to ask" class="popup">聞く</span>」, can you tell the difference? Notice that 「<span title="きこえる - to be audible" class="popup">聞こえる</span>」 always means "audible" and never "able to ask".
</p>

<p>
（１）　<span title="ひさしぶり - after a long time" class="popup">久しぶり</span>に<span title="かれ - he" class="popup">彼</span>の<span title="こえ - voice" class="popup">声</span>が<em><span title="きく - to hear, ask" class="popup">聞けた</span></em>。
<br />- I was able to hear his voice for the first time in a long time.
</p>
<p>
（２）　<span title="まわり - surroundings" class="popup">周り</span>が<span title="うるさい - noisy" class="popup">うるさくて</span>、<span title="かれ - he" class="popup">彼</span>が<span title="いう - to say" class="popup">言っている</span><span title="こと - event, matter" class="popup">こと</span>が<span title="あんまり - not very" class="popup">あんまり</span><em><span title="きこえる - to be audible" class="popup">聞こえなかった</span></em>
<br />- The surroundings were noisy and I couldn't hear what he was saying very well。
</p>

<h2 id="part5">「<span title="ある - to exist (inanimate)" class="popup">ある</span>」, yet another exception</h2>
You can say that something has a possibility of existing by combining 「<span title="ある - to exist (inanimate)" class="popup">ある</span>」 and the verb 「<span title="える - to obtain" class="popup">得る</span>」 to produce 「<span title="ありうる／ありえる - to be possible" class="popup">あり得る</span>」.
This essentially means 「<span title="ある - to exist (inanimate)" class="popup">ある</span><span title="こと - event, matter" class="popup">こと</span>が<span title="できる - to be able to do" class="popup">できる</span>」
except that nobody actually says that, they just use 「<span title="ありうる／ありえる - to be possible" class="popup">あり得る</span>」.  This verb is very curious in that it can be read as either
「<span title="ありうる - to be possible" class="popup">ありうる</span>」 or 「<span title="ありえる - to be possible" class="popup">ありえる</span>」, <i>however</i>; all the other conjugations such as 「<span title="ありえる - to be possible" class="popup">ありえない</span>」、「<span title="ありえる - to be possible" class="popup">ありえた</span>」、and 「<span title="ありえる - to be possible" class="popup">ありえなかった</span>」
only have one possible reading using 「え」.

<h3>Examples</h3>
<p>
（１）　<span title="そんな - that sort of" class="popup">そんな</span><span title="こと - event, matter" class="popup">こと</span>は<em><span title="ありうる - to be possible" class="popup">ありうる</span></em>。
<br />- That kind of situation/event is possible (lit: can exist).
</p>
<p>
（２）　<span title="そんな - that sort of" class="popup">そんな</span><span title="こと - event, matter" class="popup">こと</span>は<em><span title="ありえる - to be possible" class="popup">ありえる</span></em>。
<br />- That kind of situation/event is possible (lit: can exist).
</p>
<p>
（３）　<span title="そんな - that sort of" class="popup">そんな</span><span title="こと - event, matter" class="popup">こと</span>は<em><span title="ありえる - to be possible" class="popup">ありえない</span></em>。
<br />- That kind of situation/event is not possible (lit: cannot exist).
</p>
<p>
（４）　<span title="かれ - he; boyfriend" class="popup">彼</span>が<span title="ねぼう - oversleep" class="popup">寝坊</span><span title="する - to do" class="popup">した</span><span title="こと - event, matter" class="popup">こと</span>も<em><span title="ありうる - to be possible" class="popup">ありうる</span></em>ね。
<br />- It's also possible that he overslept. (lit: The event that he overslept also possibly exists.)
</p>
<p>
（５）　<span title="それ - that" class="popup">それ</span>は、<em><span title="ありえる - to be possible" class="popup">ありえない</span></em><span title="はなし - story" class="popup">話</span>だよ。
<br />- That's an impossible story/scenario. (lit: That story/scenario cannot exist.)
</p>

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<div class="small" style="text-align:right;"><pre>This page has last been revised on 2006/9/6
Revised examples and translations (2006/9/6)</pre></div>

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